Lori was entirely responsible for the Rick/Shane showdown, as she kept sending mixed messages (one time she'd insist that the baby was Rick's; but then she had the private meeting with Shane where she hinted that it was Shane's). The flirtatious way she behaved in that meeting with Shane was an overt "come-on" rather than what one would expect from a married woman who was trying to cool things down with her still-enamored former lover after finding out she wasn't widowed after all. And Shane wasn't mentally or emotionally stable either... the setting up of the plot to kill Rick (and lay the blame on the young kid they were holding in the barn) wasn't the action of a sane man. Shane gave Rick no choice; it was kill or be killed and that fact was spelled out to Andrea when she asked about Shane.

The fact that Rick & Lori's marriage was in trouble from the first episode of the show... then she slept with his best friend almost instantly after being told he was dead, which ruined Rick & Shane's formerly-close friendship... and was in frequent conflict with Rick throughout her pregnancy... makes the whole "seeing Lori's ghost" silliness seem even more absurd. Maybe if they'd been characterized as a devoted, faithful, working-together-as-a-team married couple who always had each other's back, the "Rick is insane after losing his wife" angle might have worked somewhat. As it is, it's just annoying and unrealistic from the perspective of them being barely on speaking terms in their last interaction before her death. It would be far more believable for the kid to be acting crazy with having to shoot his mother after she "turned".

I kind of see your point, but I'm going to stick up for Lori a bit here. First she was with Shane quite some time before they started shtoinking. And she really though her husband was dead and the world ended. She was friends with Shane before. Was she not supposed to get close to anyone until some period of mourning ended for Rick? As SOON as Rick showed up it was over and you could tell she felt enormous guilt and shame toward herself and Shane for what happened.

As for the dialogue at the wind mill, I thought she was finally making peace with Shane. She'd been hostile toward him pretty much the entire time and I thought felt her perceived ingratitude and anger may have been pushing Shane off the edge. So she apologized and thanked him for all he had done to help her and her sone. And the baby could be Shane's! No one has a 24/7 post apacalyptic DNA lab open. Aknowledging that isn't bad form, it's a reality that all three people had to deal with. I'll agree the conversation obviously pushed him over the edge, but I don't think she went there to "flirt" back into a frenzy. I think she went apologize and make peace with Shane, even if things were over. She probably thought it would help and not send him off the deep end.

As for their marital problems and how that should have lessened the blow to Rick's psyche, I partiall agree and partially don't. I think Lori dying was the final straw of repeated defeats they had been suffering that Rick was shouldering ALL the blame for. (SPOILERS) Losing Sophia was the start of a huge guilt trip, followed by Dale, Herschel's family, the Farm, Andrea, T-dog and then his wife. I do agree the whole "I'm going to make out with ghosts" thing is incredibly stupid. You want him to have a nervous break down, fine. But a borderline catatonic haze where you make out with your wife on a log is really stupid and the fact it's gone on for a quarter of the season is really stupid. It feels like fill time for the writers.

I will say this, Blue. You aren't the only person who watches the show who found Lori annoying. She didn't bug me as much.